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Just as a little correction: Dutch is not an "evolved German dialect". German and Dutch are both West Germanic languages, but so is Scots, Frisian and English.

Just as a little correction: Dutch is not an "evolved German dialect". German and Dutch are both West Germanic languages, but so is Scots, Frisian and English. So it would be like saying that German is an evolved English dialect then (though to be fair, Dutch and German are grouped closer to each-other in that family tree usually and have provided a lot of substrate for each-other due to close contact). Swiss German is not regarded as a its own language by any nation, though from a purely linguistic perspective it could very well be classified as its own language. What is deemed a language vs. a dialect usually comes down to politics. The saying usually goes something like: "A language is just a dialect with an army".

ffhhttt 3y ago
> Swiss German If we go a few hundred years or so it would’ve been considered a language as much as any other German “dialect”. But somebody decided to pick another dialect to be the “standard German” language. Same applies to France and Italy. Especially when some northern Italian “dialect” are actually more closely related to “French” and some southern “French” ones to Catalan. Just like for instance Dutch interestingly enough is closer to Franconian than to Frisian.
ochrist 3y ago
There are those who believe that English should be considered North Germanic (Scandinavian) rather than West Germanic: https://brill.com/view/journals/ldc/6/1/article-p1_1.xml?language=en https://brill.com/view/journals/ldc/6/1/article-p1_1.xml?lan...
ZeroGravitas 3y ago
I saw a a neat video recently that mapped the spread of language through Germany as a gradient, with each successive wave being understood by their neighbours but people at opposite ends of the spectrum having difficulty. Then national boundaries cut right through that. https://youtu.be/ilWSllUAM7U?si=t7IFX2QxdIq_jL5d https://youtu.be/ilWSllUAM7U?si=t7IFX2QxdIq_jL5d

ffhhttt 3y ago

> Swiss German If we go a few hundred years or so it would’ve been considered a language as much as any other German “dialect”. But somebody decided to pick another dialect to be the “standard German” language. Same applies to France and Italy. Especially when some northern Italian “dialect” are actually more closely related to “French” and some southern “French” ones to Catalan. Just like for instance Dutch interestingly enough is closer to Franconian than to Frisian.

ochrist 3y ago

There are those who believe that English should be considered North Germanic (Scandinavian) rather than West Germanic: https://brill.com/view/journals/ldc/6/1/article-p1_1.xml?language=en https://brill.com/view/journals/ldc/6/1/article-p1_1.xml?lan...

ZeroGravitas 3y ago

I saw a a neat video recently that mapped the spread of language through Germany as a gradient, with each successive wave being understood by their neighbours but people at opposite ends of the spectrum having difficulty. Then national boundaries cut right through that. https://youtu.be/ilWSllUAM7U?si=t7IFX2QxdIq_jL5d https://youtu.be/ilWSllUAM7U?si=t7IFX2QxdIq_jL5d